


A Sith By Any Other Name

by SaltyParabolas



Category: Critical Role (Web Series), Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Empire Kids, Forgiveness, Friendship, Gen, Lightsaber duel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-19
Updated: 2019-07-19
Packaged: 2020-07-08 20:01:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19875268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SaltyParabolas/pseuds/SaltyParabolas
Summary: A jedi!Beau and ex-sith!Caleb Star Wars AU oneshot, inspired by Claire Duckworth's awesome idea!





	A Sith By Any Other Name

“Caleb, turn off those stupid kriffing lights. I’m trying to sleep,” Beau groaned from the large cot she was currently sharing with Jester. The Mighty Nein had decided to sleep outdoors for a change, eager to take a break from living in the cramped spaces aboard the Balleater (“It’s an awful name Jester.” “But it makes an impression!” “Ah don’t know if that’s the kinda attention we’re wantin’.”) 

On the run from Empire ships from a botched mission, they had made it to the Outer Rim after an exhausting firefight that had left most of them badly wounded. Beauregard had ended up navigating as Fjord flew their battered ship. 

(“The holomap says its called Korriban. Does that sound familiar?” Beau had asked Fjord. “No, and frankly, I don’t care what planet it is right now. Let’s just get outta here,” Fjord had grumbled. “We really need to update these maps. Like half the systems have planets with the wrong names.” “Another time, Beau!” “Right, right.”)

As happy as Beau was to get off the ship for a while, the forest they were sleeping in...no the whole _planet_ felt off.

Much in the same way, she realized, that Caleb felt off.

It was something subtle she had noticed in Caleb when they first met. Where people like Jester wore their emotions on their sleeves, both outwardly and in the Force, Caleb was barely a blip. Only someone trained in the Force could have the knowledge to do that. And indeed, many of the abilities Caleb had displayed were rooted in the Force, yet she could feel quite clearly that he was no Jedi. 

There was something dark about the planet, of that she was sure. And she might be imagining it, but it seemed to her that it was the same darkness she was beginning to sense in Caleb. She hadn’t asked him about it, just as he hadn’t asked her about (or turned her in for) being a Jedi.

“I’m sorry Beau,” came Caleb’s quiet reply, bringing her back to the present. “I was just trying to read this tome we found. I can turn off the lights if they are bothering you.”

“Yeah, that’d be grea- hey what’s that?” Beau asked, cutting herself off to peer into the darkness. She could see a dull glow in the distance.

“I don’t know,” said Caleb, who, although he was technically “on watch”, had been immersed in the tome and hadn’t really been paying attention to his surroundings. “I will go check.”

Beau sat up and stretched, pulling her arm out from where it was comfortably nestled under Jester’s head. “I’ll go with you,” she yawned, getting to her feet and unclipping her lightsaber.

“Very well,” he said and they headed together into the darkness.

Beauregard ignited one end of her lightsaber, the gentle hum out of place in the eerie silence of the forest. She walked slightly ahead of Caleb, illuminating the way (and protecting him. Always ready to protect him. All of them. So much for no attachments. Her Master would be so disappointed. And she really didn’t care anymore.)

“There,” Caleb whispered, pointing. There was some sort of building ahead, ancient and foreboding, an unearthly glow emanating from within.

“Wonder what it is,” Beau said. “Wanna check it out?”

Caleb hesitated. “Come on,” she wheedled, poking him in the ribs. “What's the worst that could happen?”

“I have the strangest feeling,” Caleb sighed, following a determined Beauregard, “that we are about to find out."

*****

Beauregard stepped cautiously into what she thought might be a temple of some kind. Out of nowhere, she felt the Force screaming out to her, warning her to _move move MOVE._ She leaped, just as a golem she hadn’t noticed guarding the entrance, slammed its stone blade where she had been standing. 

“Kriffing- Caleb, get back!” Beau called, igniting both ends of her double bladed saber.

“Was is das-?” Caleb stared up at the Golem and went pale. “Beauregard, what planet are we on?” 

“Does that-” Beau dodged another heavy blow, before lashing out at the construct “-really matter right now?” she asked, exasperated.

“I believe it may be critical,” Caleb responded, eyes flickering over the temple, taking in the details of it.

“Shit, I don’t know. Korrin? Korian?”

“Korriban?” Caleb asked frantically.

“Yeah, that’s it!” 

Caleb went impossibly paler. “We must leave. Now!” he said, running forward into the temple to pull her away.

As he approached, the Golem stopped its attacks against the young Jedi and knelt before Caleb. Beau began to leap forward to strike at it again when a voice sounded, everywhere, and yet directly in their ears, loud and soft all at once.

“Welcome, young Master,” came the slithy, whispered tone.

“Who’s there?” Beau called out, breathing heavily.

“I see you bring a Jedi to train in our ways. She is strong. She will make a fine apprentice. Though I sense your training has not been completed. No matter,” Caleb and Beau jumped as the open door to the temple was slammed shut with a sharp crack of stone on stone. “You will learn soon enough.”

“What in kriffing hell is going on?” Beau asked. “What did that voice mean, Master? Caleb?”

Caleb could not respond. He watched in horror as a figure flickered in front of him, glowing a dull gray. “Welcome young Bren,” said the cloaked figure, “to Korriban. Home of the Sith.” 

Without warning, Lightning arcked towards Caleb. Beau leaped forward to try to protect him, but he flung out a hand, using the Force to push her away. “No!” he yelled as the crackling energy reached him. “I deserve this.” His memories of his training came flooding back to him as he screamed in pain. 

Astrid.

Eodwulf.

Snoke.

*****

“Bren. Please go to your chambers. There is a matter I need you to take care of.” Snoke’s voice echoed through the cave that doubled as the initiates' training room. “Yes, master,” Bren said. He deactivated his crimson saber and stepped away from his duel with Astrid. 

She smirked at him. “I almost had you that time.”

“Too bad almost isn’t good enough,” Bren said offhandedly, clipping his saber to his belt. 

“I would watch my back if I were you,” Eodwulf snarled, staggering up to his feet from where Bren had force pushed him with little effort. “You’re not as great as you think you are.”

Bren smiled patronizingly at his fellow initiate. “I’m not worried. After all it’s me our Master is calling on for a mission.” With that, Bren spun on his heel and strode away.

He reached his room, swiftly and kneeled before the form of Snoke that awaited him, flickering in his darkened quarters. 

“Bren. You have proven yourself to be my most promising student.” Inwardly, Bren preened at the praise. Of course he was the best. Only Snoke was greater than he. And that, he thought, careful to mask his emotions, would soon change. 

“Thank you, Master,” Bren said.

“Are you loyal, Bren Ermendrud?”

Shit. “Of course, master,” Bren said, not too quickly, not too eagerly. He kept his voice measured, a careful monotone. He knew he was masking his feelings, that there was no fathomable way that Snoke could sense his true thoughts.

“Then I have a task for you, boy.” The image flickered as Snoke spat the last word out. “Concerning two traitors to the Empire. I believe Leofric and Una Ermendrud are due a visit from their prodigal son.”

At last, a chance to prove his loyalty!

“As you wish, my master.”

*****

Beau watched helplessly as Caleb’s body was ravaged by the lightning. Finally, unable to bear his cries of pain, she leaped forward and deflected the bolts with her saber. “Caleb, get up,” she cried. “We need to find a way out of here!” 

Caleb slowly rose to his feet, his hair falling over his face. “I think,” he said calmly, looking up at her with bright, glowing yellow eyes, rimmed with red, “That we are exactly where we need to be.” 

Beau stared at him in confusion, arms straining with the effort of keeping the bolts of lightning from hitting either of them. “Are you crazy?” she demanded.

Suddenly the lightning stopped. Her body sagged at the release of tension and she lowered her saber, exhausted. 

“On the contrary, Beauregard,” he said in that same, eerily calm, heavily accented voice. “I am at last thinking clearly.”

With that, a lightsaber shot to his hand from where it had been hidden in his sleeve. He sprung forward towards her, activating its red blade and swinging downwards in an overhead arc. Only the Force saved her from the blow as she brought up her weapon just in time to block his, her eyes wide with shock. 

“What the fuck are you doing?”

“Proving myself,” was his answer as he swung again and again, Beau racing to block his quick strikes.

“The hooded figure laughed as they sparred. “Good, good! Kill her, Bren. Kill her and prove yourself a true Master of the Sith.”

“A Sith?” Beau said incredulously. “You can’t be…” she trailed off as she remembered. The mind tricks. His unnatural quickness. The flash of yellow in his eyes when he got angry. That barely a blip presence in the Force. _He was hiding something,_ she realized. _He was hiding this from us. From me._

She stretched her hand out and flung a large rock at Caleb. As he ducked and rolled to dodge it, she ran to the entrance of the temple, jamming her lightsaber into the door. It knocked her back as though she had run into a forcefield, sending her flying across the room into a crumpled heap on the floor. They were trapped.

Caleb advanced slowly towards her fallen form, an arrogant smirk on his lips. Beau scrambled to her feet, facing him head on. “Caleb, this isn’t you,” she pleaded. “You aren’t a Sith.”

“You don’t know me,” Caleb sneered.

“Yeah, I do. You’re the nerd who reads old books when the rest of us are trying to sleep. You’re the guy that defends me when Fjord claims the Force is fake. You’re the one I trust to have my back in battle. But most of all,” she continued until she was backed against the wall. “You’re my friend. And I won’t fight you.” She deactivated her lightsaber and tossed it to the ground.

Caleb looked as though he’d been struck. Then his face contorted into a vicious snarl and he lunged forward, taking Beau’s neck in one hand, slamming her back into the wall. He brought his lightsaber up to her face. “I have to prove myself,” he growled.

“You don’t have to prove yourself to him. You don’t have to prove yourself to anyone,” she yelled in his face. “You’re not Bren anymore,” he flinched at the name. “ You’re Caleb Widogast. Now come back,” she finished, glaring at him.

Yellow eyes burned into bright blue orbs for several seconds that seemed longer than they actually were, searching for something in their depths. At last, Caleb gasped as though coming up for air. “Beaureagard,” he whispered dropping his weapon and clutching his head, backing away from her. “I-”

“Enough!” The cloaked figure snarled and extended a hand towards Beau. “You will not take him from me.”

And then there was only pain as the lightning hit her unsuspecting form. She screamed, falling to the floor and writhing in agony. 

“Caleb!” she screamed.

“Kill her!” the figure ordered.

“No,” Caleb whispered before roaring “NO!” Lightning curled at Caleb’s fingers and he hurled it at the cloaked figure. It found purchase in a device on the ground and he sent all of his energy into it. The figure screamed as the device overloaded, exploding into fragments across the room. The image cut out and the two, Jedi and Sith, were left in darkness. 

Caleb ignited his lightsaber and slowly walked towards Beau’s shuddering body. He knelt down and gently rolled her onto her back, helping her sit up.

“That device must have amplified the powers of whatever sick thing is living in this temple,” Beau muttered before looking up at Caleb. “So you’re a Sith, huh?” she groaned, trying to rub feeling back into her arms.

“Not anymore. I swear it.” Caleb looked anywhere but at her, ashamed. 

“You know, a year ago, I wouldn’t have believed you.” He flinched. “‘Once you start down the dark path, consume you it will’ and all that. But you’re different now Caleb. Whoever that was?” She gestured towards his eyes, now back to their regular blue hue. “You’re not that anymore.”

“How can you be sure?” he asked quietly, still not meeting her eyes.

“I’m a Jedi. You could have turned me in anytime over the last couple months, but you haven’t. I do sense darkness in you, and I’ve seen it too. But I’ve also seen you trying to move past it. And that’s all I care about. You’re trying to be a less shitty person.” She groaned again. “Okay, I’ve got no speeches left in me. Help me up, asshole. Let’s get out of here.”

Caleb looked down at her at last and cracked a small smile. “Okay,” he said, helping her up.

He knew he didn’t deserve this. Whatever second chance he had been given, he did not deserve it. But he would be damned if he wasn’t going to take advantage of it and atone for what he had done. And maybe, just maybe, with the help of his new...friends. He would manage it.

**Author's Note:**

> Based entirely on this (https://twitter.com/clairesketch/status/1151961228270559242) concept by Claire Duckworth.
> 
> I'm imagining the reason Beauregard didn't know about Korriban is because it was called Moriband during the clone wars, while Korriban was an older name for it that Caleb learned. I'm picturing this taking place pretty soon after Order 66, and that Snoke has been working on his own Sith apprentices for just as long, if not longer, than Palpatine has, and that's why he's here.
> 
> So yeah, let me know what you think!


End file.
